Tuesday, January 17, 2017

My one convention of the year so far (and likely my only con this year) is coming up this weekend. I'm heading out to Detroit, Michigan for ConFusion. This will be my first time attending, so I'm excited to see what it's like. I chose to give ConFusion a try because a lot of my author-friends have gushed over how much fun they've had in past years, so fingers crossed I'll have an equally wonderful time! I'm on the following panels:

Self-Publishing for Fun & Profit (Friday Jan 20th at 7pm), with Michael Underwood, Elise Kova, and Dira Lewis. We'll be looking at the current state of self-pub in all its myriad forms, and pondering where it might go in the next 10 years. I'll be happy to share some of the lessons learned from my Kickstarter experience.

Pimp Your Mars Rover (Saturday Jan 21st at 5pm), with Karen Burnham, Martin L. Shoemaker, and Bill Higgins. "What would a vehicle need to traverse the unforgiving surface of Mars? A perfect panel for those interested in engineering the next buggy." I may be a signal and image processing engineer rather than a mechanical engineer, but back when I was working at JPL in my undergrad days, I did design some hardware for a Mars lander (which sadly never made it to planetfall, as the rocket failed on launch). In any case, it's always fun to geek out about engineering and science, so I look forward to this one.

Pantsers Rule! Or So They Tell Me (Sunday Jan 22nd at 10am), with Diana Rowland, Michael Ceislak, Andrea Phillips, John Klima. In which we will discuss the joys and horrors of writing by the seat of your pants, and other alternatives to outlining. (I'm actually somewhere in the middle between a pantser and an outliner.)

Aside from the panels, I'll be hanging out at the bar. I don't actually drink, as I hate the taste of alcohol--although my God, on Friday I will likely be wishing that wasn't so. But my favorite part of a con is always the bar conversations. Well, and I also plan to spend a nice solid chunk of time each morning holed up in my room taking advantage of blissful solitude to make progress on those infamous Shattered Sigil short stories. In any case, if you'll be at the con, I'll see you there!

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Remember the Booknest.eu fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders that I mentioned in my last post? Their final auction is going on right now, and a signed copy of The Whitefire Crossing is included in this pack of 20 awesome books on the block:

Heck, I'll even doodle a special drawing on the inside of Whitefire Crossing if the winner prefers extra decoration (no promises about my art skills, though). Highest bid by 9pm on Jan 13 wins all 20 books, and all money goes to Doctors Without Borders. So if you've some extra cash you'd like to go for a good cause, head on over to Ben Galley's website and bid. If you don't have cash, no worries, it's also great if you can help spread the word.

One final note, for those of you in the US. If you, like me, are deeply dismayed at the thought of loved ones and friends with pre-existing conditions losing access to healthcare with the repeal of the ACA, please don't give in to despair and assume it's too late for anything to be done. Call your representatives. Make your voice heard.

Monday, January 2, 2017

Well, it was a hell of a year. But right now I don't want to focus on the dark parts of 2016, whether personal or global. I've spent more than enough time thinking about those. I want to remember the bright spots, so I can go into 2017 with some joy in my heart. As Edward Abbey once said, "Where there is no joy there can be no courage; and without courage all other virtues are useless."

And really, I had many wonderful moments in 2016. It's funny how hard it can be to remember the good things, sometimes. Thank goodness for pictures (and friends and loved ones) to remind us. So what'd I find, looking back through the year?

Writing-wise, not only did I finish all the mailing for The Labyrinth of Flame's Kickstarter, and work out a deal with the printing company to make the illustrated edition available to the general public, but the book won an award! The denizens of r/Fantasy voted Labyrinth of Flame the Best Self-Published/Independent novel of 2015, and I got this very cool dagger as a result:

Oh, how I wish I could say I'd finished the Shattered Sigil short stories as well. Yet here it is, 2017, and I'm still only 20,000 words and 2/3 of the way into the Cara novella The White Serpent, 1/3 of the way through the story of Dev escaping an assassin on his first convoy trip (this one's for one of the Ultimate Fan backers), and I have the Ruslan story and a Lena story plotted out but not yet written.

I did complete and turn in a 8,000-word Lizaveta story called A Game of Mages for the forthcoming Evil is a Matter of Perspective anthology--and boy was that completion a struggle, as the story required three rewrites. On the non-fiction side, I wrote three pieces for Lady Business's Readers of the Lost Arc feature, covering under-read books of the 1980s,1990s, and 2000s (that last post is turned in but not yet up on the blog). Still, I'm terribly ashamed to admit A Game of Mages is the only piece of fiction I finished all year.

The simple truth is that I didn't make writing a priority in 2016 the way I did in previous years. Some of that was by design: I wanted to put my husband and son first for a while, and reduce stress by enjoying more of the activities I'd put on hold while trying to finish The Labyrinth of Flame and run the kickstarter. But I think I let the pendulum swing a little too far over to the non-writing side.

For 2017 I'm resolving to adjust yet again and find a better balance: one that lets me finish all the Shattered Sigil short stories and finally start work on the new fantasy novel I'd like to write. (Still untitled, but this is the one with deadly sea magic, tropical islands and coral reefs, freediving, and a team of spies.) My ultimate goal would be to finish all the stories by summer and complete a rough draft of the new book by the end of the year. That may be too ambitious for a slow writer like me. We'll see.

So what did I do in 2016 instead of writing? Apart from the usual day jobbing...

1) I skied many excellent runs with my kiddo, who just this year got skilled enough to handle black diamonds and trees (woo hoo!):

Powder day at Winter Park

The snow's always best in the trees

Winter wonderland at Steamboat

2) I spent more glorious days hiking in Colorado's mountains. In the words of John Muir, "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike."

Lovely day at Andrews Tarn in Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain panorama

Nothing like climbing a nice cold glacier on a hot summer day

Indian Peaks wilderness

Pointing the way toward 14,309-ft Uncompahgre Peak, highest in the San Juans

On top of Uncompahgre--my first new 14er in many years!

3) We returned to our favorite haunts around Moab and the San Rafael Swell and explored some new-to-us areas, like Behind the Rocks,Medieval Chamber and Morning Glory Arch, the Goblin's Lair, and some off-the-beaten-ranger-path parts of the Fiery Furnace. One thing I love about canyon country is how you can visit the same areas again and again and discover new amazing things every time. (As Mary Hunter Austin said, "This is the sense of the desert hills, that there is room enough and time enough.")

"Behind the Rocks" wilderness area

Desert flowers

The kiddo tackles his first major rappel (into Medieval Chamber)

On rappel beside Morning Glory Arch (technically a natural bridge rather than an arch, but hey)

Exploring the hoodoo canyons of Goblin Valley

At the entrance to the Goblin's Lair (a.k.a. the Chamber of the Basilisk)

Another highlight was getting to meet New Zealand author Helen Lowe while I was in Sydney

And having a lovely lunch with Pellinor author Alison Croggon while in Melbourne

Yet another was a summer hike with blogger/reviewer/all-around awesome guy Paul Weimer and author Alex Acks in the Indian Peaks

5) I read a lot of excellent books. I had plans to do a whole big long "reading review" post with cover pics and mini-reviews, but in all honesty I prefer to focus on short-story writing right now. So instead I'll do a quick list of the reads that stood out most to me this year:

Janny Wurts's Wars of Light and Shadow series--I just recently finished book 8, Stormed Fortress, and I continue to be hugely impressed with the careful plotting and layered reveals

Helen Lowe's Daughter of Blood--book 3 in her excellent Wall of Night epic fantasy series. Her world is rich and fascinating, and I love what she's doing with the story and characters.

Mark Lawrence's Wheel of Osheim--final book of his Red Queen's War trilogy. Mark really knows how to stick a landing. Tons of great action, character work, and sly humor.

Frances Hardinge's The Lie Tree and Cuckoo Song--I'd seen lots of people raving about Hardinge but the first book I tried by her (A Face Like Glass) didn't entirely work for me. These two did, big time, and I'm now a convert. Her imagination is amazing.

Megan O'Keefe's Steal the Sky and Break the Chains--oh, how I loved these, because they pushed a lot of my personal buttons as a reader. Addictive yet dangerous psychic-power-style magic, strong bonds of friendship, scoundrels with hidden depths...yes, please.

Alison Croggon's The Bone Queen--a haunting, lovely prequel to her epic Pellinor series. Tied for my favorite Pellinor book with the 3rd of the main series, The Crow.

Sometimes everything we do, whether donating or writing letters or volunteering or simply offering kindness to a stranger, feels negligible in impact. But as Mark Helprin wrote in his sublime fantasy Winter's Tale, "No one ever said that you would live to see the repercussions of everything you do, or that you have guarantees, or that you are not obliged to wander in the dark, or that everything will be proved to you and neatly verified like something in science. Nothing is: at least nothing that is worthwhile."

In 2017, my biggest goal is to focus on what's worthwhile, no matter how unimportant my actions may feel.